“Fasting,” “Sackcloth,” and “Ashes”—From Nineveh to Shushan

Abstract

AbstractMany scholars have noted the linguistic links and similarities in content between the books of Esther and Jonah, and other biblical books. Some scholars have raised the possibility of a connection between Jonah and Esther themselves. This article will focus on establishing some further points of contact between these two books by comparing the descriptions of the fasting and mourning in Shushan (Esther 4) and Nineveh (Jonah 3). The mourning depicted in both Esther and Jonah should be understood as a petitionary mourning. As I shall demonstrate, there are many points of contact in plot, content and language related to the expressions of mourning in both texts. I will suggest that by creating links between these descriptions, the author of the book of Esther hints at some theological and moral implications that lack in its explicit text.